Peter Reynolds vs. Clear: Rolling updates 30th March – 2nd April

This is an archived version of the Rolling Updates, which you can find here.

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00:57am: Tomorrow promises to be a fun-filled day of action, my friends, I shall see you then. :)

22:36pm: On Soundcloud, Peter Reynolds has already gotten in with the threat/complain/insult cycle, on someone even he has to admit he doesn’t even know anything about:

19:56pm: Clear are adamant they are going to the High Court tomorrow:

And the Politics UK poll is at 307-25, but, really, who gives a crap about any of that, because someone just released a Downfall parody of Peter Reynolds being told he’s been sacked:

And someone called Peter Reynolds up and asked him a whole bunch of stuff about all the latest shenanigans and then published the recording. Excerpts I found interesting:

“There’s been an attempted coup by a bunch of people who’ve committed criminal offences under the Computers Misuse Act, they seized control of the domain name, they’ve been reported to the police in fact.”

Denzil: “I’m a cannabis user, so I have a vested interest.” Peter: “So am I.”

“The Executive Committee is composed of ME, I’m the party leader, and Janice Wells, who is the party treasurer, Mark Palmer. And that is the Executive Committee, the three of us.”

“It is absolutely disgraceful that people have been publishing private correspondence.” Fine to publish answer-phone messages from Sanj though?

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15:38pm: Well, I’m on page 17 of my dissertation and Peter’s apparently gone to sit in the garden. He’s pretty adamant Mark’s a member of the Executive though:

More worryingly, he thinks that quite a few members of Clear aren’t:

You can’t just throw people out the party, there’s a process in the constitution. These actions will catch up with Clear if the Electoral Commission gets involved…

Oh, and the Politics UK poll is at 300-25 people telling Peter Reynolds to go away. It’s less a “band of trolls” so much as a happy, thriving village of troll families living in peace and harmony while a group of 25 trouble-makers continue to pour sand into the village well covering their ears muttering “LALALALALALA”.

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13:55pm: With the the Politics UK vote standing at 282-23, Alan Wylie has just released a statement that PoliticsUK has revoked Peter Reynolds’ Politician of the Year 2011.

Part of the statement:

“it would be remiss to downplay the role that Mr Reynolds has played in the last 12 months. He has turned the LCC into a disciplined machine. He made the notion of legalised cannabis socially acceptable for many. His slick performances impressed many in mainstream politics.

But he also caused the split, his refusal to apologise left a bad taste in people’s mouths. His treatment of Sarah McCulloch was not nice to see.

There are many great people involved in CLEAR. Des, Chris B, Sanj, Jan, Stuart, Jayelle to name a few. I believe and hope that CLEAR can regroup and become stronger.

The one message that has been sent to me constantly was the validity of PoliticsUK Politician of the year Award.

I am now aware of more facts than before. After intense talks with other PUK members, I regret to announce that we have withdrawn PoliticsUK Politician of the Year from Mr Reynolds. This is due to a contravention of PoliticsUK Terms of Use.”

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2nd April 09:46am: Good morning, it’s a beautiful sunny day in Manchester and I am copyediting my dissertation. I’m on page 10/44.

So, obviously, not a lot has happened over night because all the principal protagonists presumably had to sleep at some point. However, last night, Sanj released emails that demonstrate Mark Palmer’s resignation, and Peter’s acceptance of it. The image is quite blurry and you’ll have to click on it to take a look, but the emails say:

“Hello all,
it is with deep regret that personal issues affecting my psychological problems are forcing me to remove myself from the executive committee, and I tender my resignation forthwith. I will continue to moderate the forum, there is an ‘Administrator’ member I can use which has lesser permissions so a non executive member could use it without the access of the exec.
Yours
Mark”

“Houston, we have a problem.

I’m not going to do anything about this just ye, until at least Tuesday evening when I’ll know what it going down at work and whether or not my role in Clear is in doubt. As I told Peter, I’m afraid work comes first.

But I’m not sure where this leaves us, to be honest.

Derek”

“I’m very sorry to hear that Mark.

Derek, you must concentrate on tomorrow.

It leaves us with a diminished committee but as Mark is going to continue to administer the forum it will make no difference to the actual work and campaign effort.

Peter Reynolds”

Oh, did I link to an image that shows Peter last night implying that Mark never resigned? Yeah, I guess I did…

The Politics UK poll seems also to not be dying, but now stands as 270-22.

As a personal observation, the blocking spree on Clear’s Facebook seems to have backfired somewhat, the cannabis Facebook groups I’m in seem to have not an insignificant number of people, in some cases Clear members, complaining in surprise that they posted on the Wall of Clear and got blocked. But I couldn’t give you stats on that.

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01:37am: I am retiring to my chambers. I’ll see you tomorrow as and when.

The final tally for the last 12 hours on the Politics UK poll: 252-20.

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23:05pm: The Clear Facebook has published a statement that they are back in control of the website (they aren’t), that Chris Bovey has broken the law (he hasn’t) – it seems to be an auto-update application gone wrong.

Meanwhile on Politics UK the vote stands at 243-20 in favour of Peter resigning. That’d be 12-1 against. God, I’m so bored with reiterating this, it just doesn’t change – people think Peter Reynolds should leave, ok? Lots of them. Tons of them. It’s not a tiny conspiracy. Saying it is doesn’t mean it is.

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19:49pm: I went out and had a lovely afternoon, which is why I haven’t updated in a little while.

Being as the Electoral Commission and the courts don’t open until Monday and Chris Bovey’s hosting company told Peter to get stuffed, there’s not a lot Peter et al can do:

Peter Reynolds continues to live in a world where everything is fine:

Meanwhile on Politics UK the vote stands at 226-18 in favour of Peter resigning. So if those who oppose him are few in number, one does wonder where the rest of his lot are.

——————————————14:58pm:: Lou Collins, the woman who interviewed Peter Reynolds last week on her radio show, will be interviewing Chris Bovey. Peter Reynolds thinks this is lame. Lou thinks he should step down. Peter thinks not.

Meanwhile, the Politics UK poll currently stands at 121-7 in favour of Peter Reynolds stepping down.

Chris Bovey has an update on this website business:

“I’m looking forward to the conversation I shall be having on Monday morning with the Electoral Commission, as well my interview on the Lou Collins radio show.

I have been informed that as the domain is on my server, I paid for the web site and everything, I can do what the hell I like with it; as it is a .org, it’s nothing to do with the UK authorities. The company that runs my server said they will not touch it without a court order (current price tag for a name dispute in the USA is $5000). Only if material that contained child porn or incitement to racial hatred would the server company be obliged to take it down without a court order (so that rules out publishing some of Reynolds’ more extreme screenshots).

I wonder if Reynolds will eventually get charged with wasting police time, although perhaps they consider that too minor charge and are completing the CURRENT and very REAL police investigation into Peter Reynolds for hate crime?

If Janice Wells, the only remaining member of the CLEAR exec would agree to a leadership election, they could have the site back this afternoon.”

12:43pm:: The Clear thread accusing Chris of criminal activity has now been deleted.

——————————————12:32pm: I’ve just flipped on the entries round so the latest news is at the top for your convenience.

Chris Bovey has published this screenshot and this message:

“Peter Reynolds has again publicly slandered me claiming I transferred the CLEAR web site to a new registrar yesterday; this is a lie, Peter Reynolds transferred the domain to me last year on 26th July 2011, as this email shows. The domain belongs to CLEAR, so if they want the domain moved to another registrar, CLEAR has to let me know where they want moved to. If they want their old web site back then they have to call fresh elections for the leadership of CLEAR, as I’m not prepared to offer free hosting and web site maintenance services to an undemocratic organisation lead by a racist homophobic bully.”

“We have now discovered that the CLEAR domain name was fraudulently transferred to a new registrar yesterday by Chris Bovey. He did this by illegal use of passwords which he was able to access as the server is under his physical control.

We have now provided the new registrar with documents from the Electoral Commission proving rightful ownership. We have also asked them to secure our data against further criminal activity by Bovey.”

Interestingly, as of right now, the majority of comments are a) negative and b) telling Peter to step down. Peter, also interestingly, has not blocked everyone but has replied:

“‎I was elected a year ago and my term runs until April 2014. I have the overwhelming support of the membership which under my leadership has grown from less than 70 to nearly 800 while our Facebook members have gone from zero to nearly 10,000. Do you expect a leadership election to be called every time a few trolls complain? What sort of way would that be to run a party?”

And Politics UK (the folks who originally awarded Peter Reynolds “Politician of the Year”) have put up a poll asking whether Peter Reynolds should step down or not. Currently it’s running at 88% in favour of Yes.

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1:30am: Right, I am going to bed now, we’ll have to see what happens this weekend…

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00:52am: Peter Reynolds has posted on the Clear Facebook page:

“I have now regained control of the CLEAR website. However, the server is under the physical control of Chris Bovey. It is possible that he may choose to repeat his offence by hijacking the site again.

Peter Reynolds, 31st March 2012”

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00:32am: http://www.clear-uk.org now redirects to http://peterreynoldsinhisownwords.tumblr.com/.

“The statement posted on the CLEAR website earlier tonight concerning the “sacking” of Peter Reynolds (now removed) is false and unlawful. The officers of the party as registered with the Electoral Commission are Peter Reynolds and Janice Wells. The affairs and records of CLEAR are fully compliant with its own constitution and with the Electoral Commission’s requirements.

By hijacking the CLEAR website, Chris Bovey has committed a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. He has been reported to the police and our solicitors have been instructed. We also have documentary evidence implicating Des Humphrey, Orson Boon, Sanj Chowdhary, Greg de Hoedt and Levent Akbulut in a criminal conspiracy.

This has been reported to the police under crime reference number C12D12966.

The server on which this website is based is under the physical control of Chris Bovey. It is possible that he may choose to repeat his offence by hijacking the site again.”

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23:30pm Chris just published some emails between him and Peter in the last twenty minutes:

“I advise you to pass control of the CLEAR website to me immediately.

Every minute that you prolong this compounds the multiple criminal offences that you have committed.

Peter Reynolds”

“Mark and Derek resigned from the committee

Jan is on record as to saying you should hold a leadership election. Derek said last night he would resign if you didn’t call one; I assume that’s why he resigned.

The domain name belongs to CLEAR, not you Peter. You are no longer leader of CLEAR, why don’t you just go gracefully.

I have already consulted a lawyer who advised me no criminal offence has taken place, furthermore, he also advised me the post by CLEAR stating that I have committed a criminal act is a defamation of my character. Therefore if you do not take that post down accusing me of criminal behaviour, I give you notice Peter that it is you who will be hearing from my lawyers.

Regards,

Chris Bovey.”

“Chris,

This is the biggest mistake of your life.

Obviously you’ll get bail but soon you’re going to be looking at the inside of a cell for a few hours.

I am now ceasing communication with you.

It’s April Fool’s day on Sunday and you are five very big fools.

Peter Reynolds”

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Peter Reynolds just sent this to Ed Stratton:

And this just went out on the Clear Facebook page:

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It’s getting late, so I am assuming not much more is going to happen, but I’ll update as I see it.

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Jason Reed, who resigned from the Clear Executive in November 2011, just published this statement.
“I have been asked many times to speak about CLEAR, and I have been disinclined to do so. This is not for any other reason than I believe there’s a dignity in silence. If this personal ethic differs from yours, then I apologise, but that’s always been my preferred method owing to my upbringing. However:
Over the last year, the political party, CLEAR, has been in action.
I was asked to be a member of the executive committee in the early portion of CLEAR’s inception. I then left the organisation in November due to personal reasons.
Owing to the fact CLEAR is a political party, and it involves a subject matter that I am both impassioned over, I feel I can address the party & leader without rancour and distant from personal involvement. Just as I have views over the Liberal Democrats, Labour, or the Conservatives, I can also draw upon my democratic ideals with regards to CLEAR and address them in the spirit of politics.
For numerous reasons, I have felt unable to support CLEAR for many many months. I feel its brief tenure in the political realm has done more harm than good. Its current guise & output, I believe, is toxic to serious reform efforts and the wider discourse.
It’s with tremendous regret that I feel I have to state this, but it’s my hope that some semblance of progression can be made.
Whatever view of me anyone may have, I would like to think it’s known that I’m not as stupid as my ears make me look. I have made my own mind up, using my own open senses, and without corruption from any one or any group. As stated, my observations span many months.
I have always been very frank in that I wish for one thing and one thing only, and that’s the basic premise of reform; my personal work exists only for the betterment of this principle. I was fervent and frank in that my judgement of CLEAR & leadership would come into play after one year of the organisation’s birth. So, one year on, I believe CLEAR to not at all be acting in the highest standards and conduct. I have been left open mouthed on a few too many occasions for it to be forgiveable; it has become the fabled car crash.
So in the interests of trying to put this part of my life fully behind me, and to progress in efforts of reform, I hope all can accept this statement with my regrets and humble best.”

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Peter Reynolds has now posted screenshots of a conversation between members of the Clear Exec (Chris, Greg et al), and claims that it is evidence of criminal conspiracy and listed a crime reference number. You can catch that on the Clear Facebook page here.

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* Chris, Greg, Des and Sanj just published this statement:

Following the resignation of Mark Palmer and Derek Williams, leaving only 3 members of the Exec left; Greg de Hoedt and Chris Bovey (the required quorum) took the decision to reappoint Des Humphrey and Sanj Chowdhary to the Exec and sack Peter Reynolds.
With the Exec the leadership of CLEAR in disarray, far from hijacking CLEAR, we are putting control of CLEAR back to the fee paying membership. Why does Peter Reynolds have a problem allowing the democratic process to take due course and putting the leadership of CLEAR to the membership?
In an email dated 29th March 2012, the day before resigning, Derek Williams stated in an email:
Sorry Pete, I’ve been put in the position of standing alone with you against everyone else and I just don’t want to be in this position, simple as that. We have to bring this to a head and the sooner the better. Please agree to stand for re-election, don’t force a vote of no confidence and don;t force me to leave.
In an email dated 29th March 2012, CLEAR treasurer Jan Wells wrote:
I agree with Derek on this, I also believe a vote would be the best thing for clear, it would renew Peters mandate to lead and silence some of the hate campaigners. I doubt if even this will end the hate campaign but it will be the members wishes that are followed, it will end the dictator rubbish and show we are democratic.
I am not siding with anyone, I am trying to do whats best for clear, to follow the constitution, and represent the membership.”

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* Chris, Greg, Des and Sanj responded by publishing Mark’s resignation statement from five days previously in full on the website:

“Hello all,
it is with deep regret that personal issues affecting my psychological problems are forcing me to remove myself from the executive committee, and I tender my resignation forthwith. I will continue to moderate the forum, there is an ‘Administrator’ member I can use which has lesser permissions so a non executive member could use it without the access of the exec.
Yours
Mark”

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* However, Peter Reynolds remains in control of the Clear Facebook group, and promptly issued this statement:

“STATEMENT BY CANNABIS LAW REFORM (CLEAR)

The statement posted on the CLEAR website tonight is false and unlawful. The officers of the party as registered with the Electoral Commission are Peter Reynolds and Janice Wells. The affairs and records of CLEAR are fully compliant with its own constitution and with the Electoral Commission’s requirements.

By hijacking the CLEAR website, Chris Bovey has committed a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. He has been reported to the police. We also have documentary evidence implicating several other individuals. Our solicitors have been instructed.

Mark Palmer, Peter Reynolds, Jan Wells

The CLEAR Executive committee, 30th March 2012”

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* They then issued this statement:

“This is a joint statement from the CLEAR Exec who have reconvened after having been removed by the leader, Peter Reynolds, for criticising him, or having resigned because he was unable to work with them in a professional manner.

Peter Reynolds has put into the public domain certain views that can only be considered racist, homophobic and intolerant of many minority groups. He has publicly stated that he stands by every word he wrote.

Since revelations of his blog were exposed at the end of last year. Peter Reynolds has refused to listen to advice from the membership and the CLEAR Exec. He has made rude and insulting public statements either on this web site, or his blog, or by email, to many activists/ bloggers / members / medicinal users who have questioned his leadership style, such as calling a medicinal user “an obnoxious troll” or calling a 22 year old female student blogger “a genetically confused half woman half wererwolf.” He has also threatened medicinal cannabis users with High Court legal action and handing over personal details to the police.

Peter Reynolds has also alienated the support of 17 MPS, UK charities Release, Transform, Drug Equality Action and Students For Sensible Drug Policy.

In view of the conduct and behaviour of Peter Reynolds and the fact only one member of the CLEAR Exec remains, the rest having either resigned or been booted off by Reynolds, in the interests of the party, the former CLEAR executive members have unanimously voted to relinquish Peter Reynolds from his post as leader of CLEAR, with immediate effect and handing power back to the the membership by calling an election for a new exec and leader.

The CLEAR web site, which was broken for reasons unknown during the week has now been fully restored, however, Peter Reynolds changed the ownership from CLEAR to his personal details. We have asked the registrar the domain details be returned to the registered address of CLEAR.

Control of the web site will be handed over to the new Exec once it is voted on by the membership.

Des Humphrey, Greg de Hoedt, Sanj Chowdhary, Chris Bovey”

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Hi everyone,

I got back from synagogue today to discover Peter Reynolds had been deposed as leader of Clear. Wow! And then he claimed he hadn’t been, and it all got a bit weird. So, I just wanted to throw together everything that has happened so far for my benefit as much as everyone else’s: